Malta faces EU infringement proceedings over hunting, trapping

The European Commission has initiated infringement proceedings against Malta for allowing trapping on the pretext of scientific research and for hunting derogations in breach of the Birds Directive. 
In a statement, the European Commission said it is calling on Malta to correctly apply the Birds Directive, which requires a general system of protection for wild birds and allows derogations only subject to strict conditions.
"The European Green Deal and the European Biodiversity Strategy indicate that it is crucial for the EU to halt biodiversity loss by protecting and restoring biodiversity. Malta has authorised derogations for the spring hunting of quail every year since 2011 and derogations for autumn live-capturing of song thrush and golden plover each year since 2012. These derogations fall short systematically of the requirements set out in the legislation, related in particular to poor supervision of the conditions set out in the derogations, which results in other species than those targeted being affected.

"Relying on insufficient or inaccurate information about the populations of wild birds and the available alternatives, Malta also failed to fulfil the basic conditions...